Passengers of the RMS Titanic

The passengers of the RMS Titanic were among the estimated 2,223 people who sailed on the maiden voyage of the second of the White Star Line's Olympic class ocean liners, from Southampton to New York City.[1] Halfway through the voyage, the ship struck an iceberg and sank in the early morning of 15 April 1912, resulting in the deaths of over 1,500 people,[2] including approximately 703 of the passengers.[3]

The Titanic's passengers were divided into three separate classes, determined not only by the price of their ticket but by wealth and social class: those travelling in first class, the wealthiest passengers on board, were prominent members of the upper class and included businessmen, politicians, high-ranking military personnel, industrialists, bankers and professional athletes. Second class passengers were middle class travellers and included professors, authors, clergymen and tourists. Third class or steerage passengers were primarily immigrants moving to the United States and Canada.[4]

The Titanic's first class passenger list was a "who's who" of the rich and prominent of the upper class in 1912. A single person berth in first class cost between £30, the equivalent of £2,592 today, and up to £870 (£71,778 today) for a parlour suite and small private promenade deck.[5][6] First class passengers enjoyed a number of amenities including a gymnasium, a squash court, a salt water swimming pool, electric and Turkish baths, a barbershop, kennels for first class dogs, elevators, and both open and enclosed promenades.[7] First class passengers also traveled accompanied by personal staff—valets, maids, nurses and governesses for the children, chauffeurs and cooks.

Members of the British aristocracy made the trip: The Countess of Rothes, wife of the 19th Earl of Rothes, embarked at Southampton with her parents, Thomas and Clementina Dyer-Edwardes, and cousin Gladys Cherry. Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet of Halkin, and his wife, Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon were on board as well. Sir Cosmo was a wealthy Scottish landowner and Olympic fencing medalist, while Lady Duff-Gordon, known professionally as Lucile, was a leading fashion designer who served a wealthy and exclusive clientele including the British Royal Family. Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, a real estate investor, member of the wealthy Scottish-American Gracie family, embarked at Southampton. The Cavendishes of London were among other prominent British couples on board as well. Lord Pirrie, chairman of Harland and Wolff intended to travel aboard the Titanic, but illness prevented him from joining the ill-fated voyage; however White Star Line's Managing Director J. Bruce Ismay and the ship's Harland and Wolff designer, Thomas Andrews, were both on board to oversee the ship's progress on her maiden voyage.

Second class passengers were predominantly leisure tourists, academics, members of the clergy and middle class English and American families. The ship's musicians travelled in second class accommodations; they were not counted as members of the crew but were employed by an agency under contract to the White Star Line. The average ticket price for an adult second class passenger was £13, the equivalent of £1,123 today.[11] and for many of these passengers, their travel experience on the Titanic was akin to travelling first class on smaller liners. Second class passengers had their own library and the men had access to a private smoking room. Second class children could read the children's books provided in the library or play deck quoits and shuffleboard on the second class promenade.[7] Twelve-year-old Ruth Becker passed the time by pushing her two-year-old brother Richard around the enclosed promenade in a stroller provided by the White Star Line.[12]

Two Roman Catholic priests on board, Father Thomas Byles and Father Joseph Peruschitz, held Mass every day for second and third class passengers during the voyage. Father Byles gave his homilies in English, Irish and French and Father Peruschitz held his in German and Hungarian.[13][14]

Schoolteacher Lawrence Beesley, a science master at Dulwich College, spent much of his time aboard the ship in the library. Two months after the sinking, he wrote and published The Loss of the SS Titanic, the first eyewitness account of the disaster.[16]

The Laroche family, father Joseph and daughters Simonne and Louise, were the only known passengers of black ancestry on board the ship. They, along with Joseph's pregnant wife Juliette, were travelling to Joseph's native island of Haiti. Joseph hoped that a move from their former home in Paris back to Haiti, where his uncle Cincinnatus Leconte was president, would take his family away from racial discrimination.[17]

Another French family travelling in second class was the Navratils, travelling under the assumed name Hoffman. Michel Navratil, a Slovak-born French tailor, had kidnapped his two young sons, Michel Jr. and Edmond from his estranged wife, assumed the name Louis M. Hoffman and boarded the ship in Southampton, intent on taking his children to the United States. Michel Sr. died in the sinking and photographs of the boys were circulated throughout the world in the hopes that their mother or another relative could identify the French toddlers, who became known as "The Titanic Orphans." [18] After arriving in New York, the children were cared for by Titanic survivor Margaret Hays until their mother, Marcelle Navratil travelled from Nice, France to claim them.[19]

The third class passengers or steerage passengers left hoping to start new lives in the United States and Canada. Third class passengers paid between £7 (£605 today) and £9 (£777 today) for their ticket, depending on their place of origin; ticket prices often included the price of rail travel to the three departure ports. Tickets for children cost £3 (£259 today).[6]

Third class passengers were a diverse group of nationalities and ethnic groups. In addition to large numbers of British, Irish, and Scandinavian immigrants, there were passengers from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East (primarily Lebanon and Syria) and Hong Kong.[20] Some travelled alone or in small family groups. Several groups of mothers were travelling alone with their young children—most going to join their husbands who had already gone to America to find jobs, and, having saved up enough money, could now send for their families.[21]

Among the larger third-class families were John and Annie Sage, who were emigrating to Jacksonville, Florida with their nine children, ranging in age from 4 to 20 years; Anders and Alfrida Andersson of Sweden and their five children, who were travelling to Canada along with Alfrida's younger sister Anna, husband Ernst and baby Gilbert; and Frederick and Augusta Goodwin, who were moving with their six children to his new job at a power plant in New York. In 2007, scientists using DNA analysis identified the body of a small fair-haired toddler, one of the first victims to be recovered by the CS Mackay Bennett, as Frederick's youngest child, 19-month-old Sidney.[22] The Sages, Anderssons and Goodwins all perished in the sinking.

The youngest passenger on board the ship, two-month-old Millvina Dean who, with her parents Bertram Sr. and Eva Dean and older brother Bertram, were emigrating from England to Kansas, died in 2009. She was the last survivor of the Titanic disaster to die.[23]

In order to compete with rival shipping company Cunard, the White Star Line offered their steerage passengers modest luxuries, in the hopes that emigrants would write to relatives back home and encourage them to travel on White Star Line ships. Third class passengers had their own dining facilities, with chairs instead of benches, and meals prepared by the third class kitchen staff. On other liners, the steerage passengers would have been expected to bring their own food.[24] Rather than dormitory-style sleeping areas, third class passengers had their own cabins. The single men and women were separated, women in the stern in two to six berth cabins, men in the bow in up to ten berth cabins, often shared with strangers. Each stateroom was fitted with wood panelling and beds with mattresses, blankets, pillows, electric lights, heat and a washbasin with running water, except for the bow cabins which did not have a private washbasin. Two public bathtubs were also provided, one for the men, the other for women.[25]

Passengers gathered in the third class common room where they could play chess or cards, or walk along the poop deck. Third class children played in the common room or explored the ship—nine-year-old Frank Goldsmith recalled peering into the engine room and climbing up the baggage cranes on the poop deck.[26]

Ship's regulations were designed to keep third class passengers confined to their area of the ship. The Titanic was fitted with grilles to prevent the classes from mingling and these gates were normally kept closed, although the stewards could open them in the event of an emergency. In the rush following the collision, the stewards, occupied with waking up sleeping passengers and leading groups of women and children to the boat deck, did not have time to open all the gates, leaving many of the confused third class passengers stuck below decks.[27]

Several passengers on the Titanic were of Arab origins. At the time, many carried identification from the Ottoman Empire that stated they were from Greater Syria which included the modern day countries Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Passengers from modern-day Lebanon, for instance, had hometown villages which correspond to modern day Lebanese villages. Kamal Kobeissi of Al Arabiya said "Even though the list of victims who died on the Titanic denotes who among them was Arab, it is difficult to find enough information on their Arab nationalities and what circumstances drove them to board the doomed ship. This even applies to Encyclopedia Titanic, the most comprehensive source on the 1912 tragedy."[30] The names of Arab people on the passenger register do not necessarily correspond to the original Arabic. For instance "Badr" was rendered "Badt," Yusuf" was rendered "Joseph," and "Boutros" was rendered as "Peter."[30] Of the Arab passengers who died, all were from modern day Lebanon except for one Egyptian.[31]

According to Bakhos Assaf, mayor of Hardin, Lebanon, 93 passengers originated from what is today Lebanon, and Hardin had 20 passengers, the highest number of any Lebanese place. Of the Hardin passengers, 11 adult men died, while eight women and children and one adult man survived.[32] Kamal Seikaly, an individual quoted in an article from the Lebanese publication Daily Star, stated that according to a May 16, 1912 issue of the Al-Khawater magazine stored in the American University of Beirut, of the 125 Lebanese aboard, 23 survived. The magazine states that 10 people from Kfar Meshki died on the Titanic.[33]

In 1997, Ray Hanania, a Palestinian American journalist, watched the 1997 Titanic film and noticed some background characters saying "yalla", meaning "come on" in Arabic. This prompted him to research the issue and he discovered that Arab passengers were on board.[34] In 1998 he wrote a column about the Arabs on the Titanic, "Titanic: We Share the Pain But Not the Glory." In the October 1998 book Titanic: Women and Children First, Judith Geller stated that "officially were 154 Syrians on board the Titanic and 29 were saved: four men, five children and 20 women".[34] According to Hanania's analysis, there were 79 Arab passengers. According to Hanania, the task to "identify precisely" which passengers were Arab is difficult.[34] Hanania stated that many were Christians because church sponsorship made it easier for Christians to get passage as opposed to Muslims.[34]

There is a book The Dream and Then the Nightmare: The Syrians Who Boarded the Titanic - the story of the Arabic-speaking passengers [ISBN 978-9933-9086-1-4] by Leila Salloum Elias (Damascus/Beirut: Atlas for Publishing and Distribution, 2011).

On the night of 14 April 1912 at around at 11:40 pm, while the Titanic was sailing about 400 miles (640 km) south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the ship struck an iceberg and began to sink. Shortly before midnight, Captain Edward Smith ordered the ship's lifeboats to be readied and a distress call was sent out. The closest ship to respond was Cunard Line's Carpathia 58 miles (93 km) away, which would arrive in an estimated four hours—too late to rescue all of Titanic '​s passengers. Forty-five minutes after the ship hit the iceberg, Captain Smith finally ordered the lifeboats to be loaded and lowered under the orders women and children first.

The first lifeboat launched was Lifeboat 7 on the starboard side with 28 people on board out of a capacity of 65. It was lowered at around 12:45 am as believed by the British Inquiry.[35] Collapsible Boat D was the last lifeboat to be launched, at 2:05. Two more lifeboats, Collapsible Boats A and B, were in the process of being removed from their location on the roof of the officer's house but could not be properly launched. Collapsible B floated away from the ship upside down, while Collapsible A became half-filled with water after the supports for its canvas sides were broken in the fall from the roof of the officers' quarters.[35] There were arguments in some of the lifeboats about going back to pick up people in the water, but many survivors were afraid of being swamped by people trying to climb into the lifeboat or being pulled down by the suction from the sinking Titanic, though it turned out that there had been very little suction.[36] At 2:20 am, Titanic herself sank.[37] A small number of passengers and crew were able to make their way to the two unlaunched collapsible boats, surviving for several hours until they were rescued by Fifth Officer Harold Lowe.

At 4:10 am, the RMS Carpathia arrived at the site of the sinking and began rescuing survivors. By 8:30 am, she picked up the last lifeboat with survivors and left the area at 08:50[38] bound for Pier 54 in New York City. Of the 711 passengers and crew rescued by the Carpathia, six, including first class passenger William F. Hoyt, either died in a lifeboat during the night or on board the Carpathia the next morning, and were buried at sea.[39]

In the days following the sinking, several ships sailed to the disaster area to recover victims' bodies. The White Star Line chartered the cable ship CS Mackay-Bennett from Halifax, Nova Scotia to retrieve bodies. Three other ships followed in the search: the cable ship Minia, the lighthouse supply ship Montmagny and the sealing vessel Algerine. Each ship left with embalming supplies, undertakers, and clergy. Upon recovery, each body retrieved by the Mackay-Bennett was numbered and given as detailed a description as possible to help aid in identification. The physical appearance of each body—height, weight, age, hair and eye colour, visible birthmarks, scars or tattoos, was catalogued and any personal effects on the bodies were gathered and placed in small canvas bags corresponding to their number.[40]

A photo of the CS Mackay-Bennett, the first ship to arrive at the Titanic wreck site in search for bodies.

However, the ship found so many bodies that the embalming supplies aboard were quickly exhausted. Health regulations permitted that only embalmed bodies could be returned to port.[41] Captain Larnder of the Mackay-Bennett and the undertakers aboard decided to preserve all bodies of First Class passengers, justifying their decision by the need to visually identify wealthy men to resolve any disputes over large estates. As a result the majority of the burials at sea were third class passengers and crew. Larnder himself claimed that as a mariner, he would expect to be buried at sea.[42] However complaints about the burials at sea were made by families and undertakers. Later ships such as Minia found fewer bodies, requiring fewer embalming supplies, and were able to limit burials at sea to bodies which were too damaged to preserve.

Bodies recovered were preserved and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the closest city to the sinking with direct rail and steamship connections. A large temporary morgue was set up in a curling rink and undertakers were called in from all across Eastern Canada to assist. Relatives from across North America came to identify and claim the bodies of their relatives. Some bodies were shipped to be buried in their home towns across North America and Europe. About two-thirds of the bodies were identified. Of the remaining 150 unclaimed bodies, 121[43] were taken to the non-denominational Fairview Lawn Cemetery; 19[44] were buried in the Roman Catholic Mount Olivet Cemetery, and 10[45] were taken to the JewishBaron de Hirsch Cemetery.[46] Unidentified victims were buried with simple numbers based on the order in which their bodies were discovered.

In mid-May 1912, over 200 miles (320 km) from the site of the sinking, RMS Oceanic recovered three bodies, numbers 331, 332 and 333, who were among the original occupants of Collapsible A, which was swamped in the last moments of the sinking. Although several people managed to reach this lifeboat, three died during the night. When Fifth Officer Harold Lowe and six crewmen returned to the wreck site after the sinking with an empty lifeboat to pick up survivors, they rescued surviving passengers from Collapsible A, but left the three dead bodies in the boat: Thomson Beattie, a first-class passenger, and two crew members, a fireman and a seaman. After their retrieval from Collapsible A by Oceanic, the bodies were buried at sea.[47][48]

The following is a full list[21][49] of known passengers who sailed on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.

Included in this list are the nine-member Guarantee Group and the eight members of the ship's band, who were given passenger accommodations and treated as both passengers and crew.[50][51] They are also included in the list of crew members on board RMS Titanic.

Passengers are colour-coded, indicating whether they were saved or perished. The passenger did not survive The passenger survived

Survivors are listed with the lifeboat from which they were known to be rescued. Victims whose remains were recovered after the sinking are listed with a superscript next to the body number, indicating the recovery vessel:

^"Scientists Finally Solve Titanic Mystery". Associated Press. 3 August 2007. Buried in a small plot in a Halifax cemetery, the baby was a poignant symbol of the children who perished on the vessel when it sank in 1912. In 2002, it seemed the mystery was solved; Canadian researchers said he was a thirteen-month-old Finnish boy. However, on Tuesday, a lead researcher said the child was actually the 19-month-old boy from England.|accessdate= requires |url= (help)

^Léontine Pauline Aubart was the mistress of Benjamin Guggenheim. Benjamin Guggenheim died on the sinking.

^After the Titanic sank, Thomson Beattie was hauled aboard Collapsible A but he died in the night. His body was found when the lifeboat was recovered a month later by the Oceanic.

^Helen Bishop was pregnant while on board the Titanic. She gave birth to a son, Randall Walton, on 8 December 1912, who died a day after his birth.

^William Hoyt was pulled alive from the water, and onto Lifeboat 14, and thus is counted among the occupants of this boat; Hoyt, however, died during the night and his body was buried at sea by the sailors on board the Carpathia

^Known for decades as "The Unknown Child", body number 4 was initially identified after the disaster as two-year-old Gösta Leonard Pålsson (1912). Dental records later identified him as 13-month-old Eino Viljami Panula (2002), until a test on the child's HVS1, a type of mitochondrial DNA molecule, confirmed his identification as that of 19-month-old Sidney Goodwin (2007).